Hundreds of people march through Roslea during the Easter 1916 commemoration DP31
FORMER DONEGAL TD Padraig MacLochlainn will be the main speaker at this year’s annual Sinn Fein Fermanagh Easter Sunday Commemoration.
The annual County Easter Commemoration is being held at Arney, the final resting place of Irish Volunteer of the time, Phil Cassidy. This year’s event will be particularly significant given the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising.
Cassidy was one of a small number of comrades who marched to the General Post Office in Dublin with Padraig Pearse, one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, and read from its steps the Proclamation of a new Republic.
“This year’s commemoration is taking place in Arney as it did 50 years ago, primarily due to Phil Cassidy being buried there. He is the only veteran of the Easter Rising that we are aware of who was laid to rest in Fermanagh,” a party spokesman told the Herald.
Sinn Fein Fermanagh is urging all those who want to honour the heroism and vision of people who took part in the Rising to join them on Easter Sunday in Arney. Party members will be welcoming everyone to assemble in the village at 2.30pm after which there will be a parade to the final resting place of Phil Cassidy in Arney Graveyard.
Meanwhile the Fermanagh 1916 Societies Annual Easter Commemoration also takes place on Sunday at 11.30am in Derrylin Graveyard. There republicans will gather at the grave of local activist Jim Murphy, who was murdered in April 1974.
Independent Cllr Bernice Swift, a member of the local Sean MacDiarmada Society, has called on Irish republicans from across the county “to assemble in Derrylin and pay tribute to all of Ireland’s Patriot Dead, who died in pursuit of Irish Freedom and Independence”.
There will also be Irish music at Roche’s Bar, Kinawley and in St Patrick’s Hall in Donagh on Easter Sunday night.
Large crowds are also expected to attend the annual Easter Monday Commemoration in Pettigo, which gets underway at 3pm. The event will be addressed by local Sinn Fein MLA Sean Lynch with music being provided by the Strabane Flute Band.
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